Cherry St. TTC shelters push pedestrians into bike traffic

Any TTC rider will tell you that transit shelters are a good thing, but not if they force people to dodge fast-moving bicycles.

Last spring, two new shelters were installed by Astral Out of Home, the city’s street furniture partner, on the east side of Cherry St., south of Commissioners St.

With two transit shelters recently installed in the sidewalk on Cherry St. south of Commissioners St., pedestrians are forced to mingle with cyclists on the Martin Goodman Trail. (Jack Lakey / For the Toronto Star)

They caught the attention of David Crawford, who keeps a close eye on streetscape issues for the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association and is a trusted friend of this column.

“Here’s an Astral stupidity for you,” said Crawford in an email. “Astral (has installed) two new bus shelters on Cherry St. Unfortunately they completely occupy the (concrete) sidewalk.

“This will mean that pedestrians will have to walk on the (asphalt) Martin Goodman Trail, and this is very dangerous. The trail is filled with cyclists, particularly on summer weekends.

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“The shelters should not block either the sidewalk or trail,” he said, adding that the more southerly of the two is excessive because “this section of the 121 (TTC) route is seasonal and very few people board the bus” at it.

We went there and noticed that the sidewalk runs alongside the recreational trail and is wide enough that pedestrians can stay in their lane and avoid mingling with bike traffic.

With two shelters on the sidewalk, a few hundred metres apart, people have to veer onto the trail to go around. You’d think it would be no big deal, but that doesn’t take into account the speed of many cyclists, and how it leaves little margin for error.

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Two recent emails illustrate the point: Art Neilans said his wife “was run over by a cyclist” who didn’t see her, at Cummer and Snowcrest Aves. Alfred Gallo said his car was “broadsided by a biker on the Martin Goodman Trail, who admitted he was going 40 to 50 km/h.

“He had somersaulted over the hood. He was OK, he said, and he apologized for the damage to my car.”

So it’s easy to say that people should just be careful and keep their heads up when they go onto the trail to detour the shelters, but it definitely increases the risk of a painful accident.

Status: The city approves new shelter locations prior to their installation by Astral. Eric Holmes, a spokesperson for transportation services, emailed to say new shelters are now being installed across the city “in brand new locations that never had this amenity before. These locations are often at bus stops that are less busy, such as the stops on Cherry St. Canopy-style shelters were planned for these two locations, as they allowed us to provide this amenity to transit users while maintaining sufficient space for a pedestrian to pass by with having to walk on the trail. Staff will conduct a site visit to inspect the newly installed shelters and to confirm that a pedestrian would not be forced to walk onto the trail when walking by.”

Good luck with the visit, but the staffers need only look at the photo with this column to confirm that pedestrians will end up on the trail.

What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Email jlakey@thestar.ca or follow @TOStarFixer on Twitter